Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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101. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the differential in costs between sending a child to St. Ultan's School Navan, County Meath, in comparison Ratoath National School; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26172/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department provides for a continuum of special educational provision to be made available for children with special educational needs, so that regardless of the level of need of the child, educational provision can be made for them. My Department provides for a range of placement options and supports for schools which have enrolled pupils with special educational needs in order to ensure that, wherever a child is enrolled, s/he will have access to an appropriate education. Some children may be fully integrated into mainstream schools without additional teaching or care supports. Others are able to attend mainstream schools but need additional teaching and/or care assistance. In respect of children who cannot be accommodated in mainstream education, they may be enrolled in special classes or special schools where more intensive and supportive interventions are provided.

The extent of supports required for any child in a particular class setting or school will depend on their disability categorisation and the extent of care needs that they may have. Additional costs relating to school buildings, transport, the July Programme, the National Educational Psychological Service (Neps) the Special Education Support Service (SESS) and assistive technology support may also arise depending on individual needs. Given the different supports provided in special and mainstream schools, depending on the disability categorisations of the pupils attending those schools, the care or attendant additional needs required, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost differentials between a child attending one school versus another.

The National Council for Special Education can assist parents to identify school placements which can then be resourced to support children with special educational needs. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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102. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children presenting with Down syndrome that have been assessed by SENO for the school year 2013/14; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26173/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports. Pupils with Down syndrome attending mainstream schools may receive additional teaching support in primary schools, either under the terms of the General Allocation Model (GAM) of teaching supports, if the pupil's educational psychological assessment places the pupil in the mild general learning disability/high incidence disability category, or through an allocation of individual additional resource teaching hours which are allocated by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), if the child is assessed as being within the low incidence category of special need, as defined by my Department's Circular Sp Ed 02/05.

Pupils with Down syndrome may therefore be allocated resources under the category of mild general learning disability, or under the categories of moderate general learning difficulty or Assessed Syndrome, in conjunction with another Low Incidence disability. There is not presently a distinct disability category of Down syndrome for resource allocation purposes. As such, it is not possible to advise of the number of children with Down syndrome who will be attending school for the 2013/14 school year.